Easter Theatre Festival poised for a stronger comeback

The Easter Theatre Festival, a product of the Solomonic Peacocks Theatre, was birthed in 2014 at Blantyre Cultural Centre formerly French Cultural Centre.  The event took off with performances from groups from as far as Germany, but its upward trajectory was soon halted by other challenges. It went on a break and only returned in 2019.The global Covid-19 soon stopped it on its tracks again. As a result, the event went on a two-year break as public gathering guidelines could not permit it to take place. But this year, curators of the event have announced the return of the festival. Our staff reporter BRIAN ITAI met with director of the festival MacArthur Matukuta. Excerpts:

Q

: Introduce yourself and your position in the set-up of the festival?

A

: I am MacArthur Matukuta, the director for the Easter Theatre Festival which is a product of the Solomonic Peacocks.

Q

: Give us a background of this festival?

A

: The festival started in 2014 when its first edition was held. The second edition came in 2019 because of challenges that we faced. The third edition was supposed to come in 2020, but because of the Covid-19 situation we postponed it as we did with the 2021 edition. Looking at the trend now, the wave of the pandemic seems to have subsided and we have decided to come with the third edition. The event will happen between April 8 and 10 at JCC [Jacaranda Cultural Centre].

Q

: What inspired the formation of this festival?

A

: As Solomonic Peacock, we have travelled almost all over the world. We have participated and observed how festivals are run and how important festivals are to the nation. This inspired us to come up with our own theatre festival in Malawi. And the event is the only theatre festival in Malawi. The other events that we have are indeed art in nature, but they are dominated by music. That’s why we decided to come up with the Easter Theatre Festival.

Q

: What were the objectives on which the creation of the festival was premised on?

A

: The objective of this festival is to demonstrate to the society, both the artists and theatre lovers, that theatre is a career and that theatre is a business. This is what we want to promote in the Easter Theatre Festival. We make sure that we bring artists from within Malawi and abroad so that in future we promote much of collaborations. Through such partnerships people earn their living. If we can have a collaboration between theatre companies, one from Malawi and another from South Africa where art is at a higher level, you can be assured of having something in your pocket.

Q

: You have talked of making theatre a mainstay in people’s economic life. Why do you think as a country we are lagging behind in promoting theatre as a viable venture?

A

: This issue is viewed differently. My fellow artists say it has to do with little funding of the sector, but for me, the first thing is formal education. We don’t have increased access of formal education on arts in Malawi. Chancellor College is offering that yes, Malawi Univesirty of Science and Technology also offers some art related courses, but if you see there is a bar. They are forcing someone to have six credits before being admitted for the courses. In issues concerning creativity, you don’t attach intellectual abilities. Creativity is inborn and it is a talent given by God himself. So, you cannot limit God given talent with intellectual benchmarks. This is the main challenge that we are facing in Malawi. If we can change our system in higher education we are going to develop theatre in Malawi. The second issue is one on funding. We don’t have adequate funding the sector. If Solomonic Peacock Theatre survives, it is because of the funding that we source by ourselves.

Q

: Now coming back to the festival. What unique things should people look forward to during this year’s event?

A

: What we do in this festival is to start from where we left off. In 2019, it was a bomb and in 2022 we are starting where we left off. When we are assembling the artists we make sure that we bring artists who will bring their best on the table. We engage the artists and tell them what is expected of them.